Grad writing

The passage “Perils of Obedience” presents an experiment designed in 1963 by Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, in which people were tested either to violate their conscience by obeying the immoral demands of an authority figure or to refuse them. “Stanley Milgram (1933-1984) taught and conducted research at Yale and Harvard universities and at the Graduate Center, City University of New York.” According to Milgram, the people participating in his experiments were ordinary people just doing their jobs. However, “surprisingly, Milgram found that few participants could resist the authority’s orders, even when the participants knew that following these orders would result in another person’s pain.” The author has subtitled the remainder of his work into four sections: “An Unexpected Outcome,” “Peculiar Reactions,” “The Etiquette of Submission,” and “Duty without Conflict.”

In the passage, obedience is explained as basic an element in the structure of social life as one can point to. Generally, for many people, it is a deeply ingrained behavior tendency, indeed a potent impulse overriding training in ethics, sympathy, and moral conduct, which brings many professionals to a discussion. Whereas conservative philosophers argue the very fabric of society is threatened by disobedience, humanists emphasize the primacy of the individual conscience. Based on these disagreements, Milgram decided to study and analyze how people would react toward a situation where they had to obey even knowing they would hurt a person whom they didn’t know.

“In the basic experimental design, two people come to a psychology laboratory to take part in a study of memory and learning. One of them is designated as a ‘teacher’ and the other a ‘learner.’ The experimenter explains that the study is concerned with the effects of punishment on learning. The learner is conducted into a room, seated in a kind of miniature electric chair; his arms are strapped to prevent excessive movement, and an electrode is attached to his wrist.” He will be read lists of simple word pairs, and then he will be tested on his ability to remember the second word of the pair when he hears the first one again. Whenever he makes a mistake, he will receive shocks of increasing intensity. In the experiment, the teacher is the real focus. After watching the learner being strapped into place, he is seated before an impressive shock generator, consisting of thirty level switches set in a horizontal line, each of which is clearly labeled with a voltage designation ranging from 15 to 450 volts.

Each subject is given a sample 45-volt shock from the generator before his run as teacher, and the jolt strengthens his belief in the machine being authentic. The teacher is a genuinely naïve subject who comes to the laboratory for the experiment. The learner, or victim, is an actor who actually receives no shock at all. The point of the experiment is to see how far an ordered person will proceed in increasing pain on a protesting victim. Conflict arises as the man receiving the shock begins to show he is experiencing discomfort. Milgram tested a lot of subjects, one of whom was an attractive thirty-one-year-old medical technician, Gretchen Brandt. Brandt at the administration of 210 volts turns to the experimenter and remarking firmly says, “Well, I’m sorry, I don’t think we should continue.” As part of the experiment, the experimenter insists that Brandt continue until the learner has learned all the word pairs correctly, but she refuses to go on, and the experiment is finished.

An unexpected outcome happened in Milgram’s experiment. Before the experiments, Milgram sought predictions about the outcome from different kinds of people such as psychiatrics, college sophomores, middle-class adults, graduate students and faculty in the behavioral sciences. All of them with a significant similarity predicted that virtually all subjects would refuse to obey the experimenter. Especially the psychiatrics predicted that most subjects would not go beyond 150 volts, when the victim makes his first demand to be freed. Their predictions were extremely wrong. According to Milgram, of the forty subjects in the first experiment, sixty-two and half percent obeyed the orders of the experimenter to the end, punishing the victim until 450 volts.

At the beginning of the experiment, Yale undergraduate students were used as subjects, and about 60 percent of them were fully obedient. However, a colleague of Milgram’s immediately dismissed these findings as having no relevance to “ordinary” people because Yale undergraduates are a highly aggressive, competitive bunch who step on each other’s necks on the slightest provocation. Milgram’s colleague assured him that when “ordinary” people such as professionals, white-collar and industrial workers, and unemployed persons were tested, the results would be very different. He was wrong. The experiment’s total outcome was the same as they had observed among the students.

Fred Prozi, another subject, had his reactions illuminating the conflicts experienced by others in less visible form. At the beginning of the experiment, Prozi said that he couldn’t stand it, and he was not going to kill the learner. As the experiment continues, Prozi kept saying that he would not kill the learner and take the responsibility of his death. All of a sudden, Prozi reactions changed, and as long as the learner’s answers were given incorrectly, he continued giving him shocks from 195 volts, 210 volts, 225 volts, 240 volts, 255 volts, 270 volts, up to 450 volts. After Prozi had applied several series of 450-volt shocks, he continued the experiment at a furious pace.

After Prozi, the experiment got some peculiar reactions with another subject, Morris Braverman, who is a thirty-nine-year-old social worker. Unlike the other subjects, Braveman laughed a lot during the experiment and could not control his laughter. According to the passage, when the leaner refused to answer and the experimenter instructed Braveman to treat the absence of an answer as equivalent to a wrong one, he took his instructions to heart. “Before administering 300 volts he asserts officiously to the victim, ‘Mr. Wallace, your silence has to be considered as a wrong answer.’ Then he administers the shock.” After the session in an interview, Braveman summarizes the experiment with impressive fluency and intelligence. He feels the experiment may have been designed also to “test the effects on the teacher of being in an essentially sadistic role, as well as the reactions of a student to a learning situation that was authoritative and punitive.” He also says that his reactions were awfully peculiar.

The Etiquette of Submission, another subtitle of Milgram’s article, is one theoretical interpretation of this behavior holding that all people harbor deeply aggressive instincts continually pressing for expression, and that the experiment provides institutional justification for the release of these impulses. According to Milgram, the impulse to shock the victim is seen to flow from the potent aggressive tendencies, which are part of the motivational life of the individual and the experiment. Milgram says the procedure was identical to their standard experiment, except that the teacher was told that he was free to select any shock level on any of the trials.

During the thirty critical trials, the average shock used was less than 60 volts. “The overall result was that the great majority of people delivered very low, usually painless, shocks when the choice was explicitly up to them.” The condition of the experiment showed that those who shocked the victim at the most severe levels came only from the sadistic fringe of society. It also demonstrated that many of the teachers were in some sense against what they did to the learner, and others protested even while they obeyed. Milgram also found out that when the experiment was altered so that the experimenter gave his instructions by telephone instead of in person, only a third as many people were fully obedient through 450 volts.

Also, at the end of Milgram’s article, he mentions duty without conflict as having the subjects not deriving satisfaction from inflicting pain, but they often like the feeling they get from pleasing the experimenter. According to Milgram, “They are proud of doing a good job, obeying the experimenter under difficult circumstances. Bruno Batta, a thirty-seven-year-old welder, took part in the experiment in the variation requiring the use of force. Milgram says that after the 150-volt level, Batta had to force the learner’s hand down on the shock plate, since the learner himself refused to touch it. Somehow at the 330-volt level, when the learner not only refused to touch the shock plate but also to provide any answers, Batta showing no mercy turned to him: “You better answer and get it over with. We can’t stay here all night.” Milgram says that the scene was brutal and depressing. Betta’s tone was deferential and expressed his willingness to be a cooperative subject, in contrast to the learner’s obstinacy.

Finally, Milgram conducted some investigations into the kinds of changes that would cause the experimenter to lose his power and to be disobeyed by the subject. Some of the variations revealed that: the experimenter’s physical presence has a marked impact on his authority, conflicting authority severely paralyzes action, and the rebellious action of others severely undermines authority. Milgram concluded that the problem of obedience is not wholly psychological. The form and shape of society and the way it is developing have much to do with it. There was perhaps a time when people were able to give a fully human response to any situation because they were fully absorbed in it as human beings. However, as soon as there was a division of labor, things changed.

Final Paper: An Analysis of Two Articles

There are effective methods of explanations in two essays, which basically describe the same scientific phenomenon. One of essays is "Why the Sky is Blue" written by James Jeans and the other essay is "Why is the Sky Blue?" Both essays describe a scientific phenomenon, blue sky, which most people are already aware of but it is relatively hard to explain (based on scientific evidence). And both writers use distinctive strategies in order to describe the phenomenon.

According to James Jeans' passage, he uses several distinctive strategies. He explains "Why the Sky is Blue" with lucid examples like "waves in the ocean" and "jag of water." Although it is a difficult scientific phenomenon for the readers to understand, James Jeans illustrates clearly "Why the Sky is Blue" with effective strategies. First, he uses an analogy. Waves in the light are compared to waves in the ocean. He extends the analogy by comparing large waves in the ocean with a regiment of soldiers. He uses these analogies in order to explain "Why the Sky is Blue." These analogies make readers comfortable because the difficult concept is explained with familiar / simple ideas. Second, he uses common words like "large wave," " short wave," "columns in the ocean" and " jug of water" in order to make clear how the blue sky comes from "red light," "blue light," "particles of dust" and a "prism" effect respectively. He doesn't use scientific terminology in order to explain his concept. Third, his sentence structure is well organized and simple to read.

On the other hand, in "Why is the Sky Blue?" There are also some strategies. First, the author explains the concept directly to the readers, which means the author uses short and concise sentences. For example, the author used the sentence, "The sunlight interacting with the Earth's atmosphere makes the sky blue" in order to explain "Why is the Sky Blue?" Second, the vocabulary is very academic in "Why is the Sky Blue?" compared to James Jeans' essay. The vocabulary is more academic because the author is explaining the concept to scientific professionals. Therefore, there is much scientific terminology. This terminology makes the essay sound like it is for a very specialized audience. Third, the "Why is the Sky Blue?" essay is more concise. This is obvious because it is so much shorter than James Jeans' essay.

For me, the James Jeans essay is more effective. Jeans uses simple and clear examples like "they divide right and left and after passing each column, much as a regiment of soldiers would if a tree stood in the road." This strategy makes it easy to understand. Generally speaking, even though people are already aware of these scientific phenomena, it is difficult to explain to people using scientific ideas. In Jeans' essay, there are other positive strategies. His use of analogy is very effective. For example, his comparison between light waves and ocean waves in order to show how red light comes to appear blue to the human eye is very effective. And he makes it easy to understand by using common vocabulary and general language. This language is seen in natural phenomenon like "droplets of water," "jug of water," and "column of the pier." In contrast, in " Why is the Sky Blue," there are strategies that make the essay ineffective. One is elevated scientific vocabulary. Another ineffective strategy is that this essay is too short. That is, the essay is underdeveloped, which makes it difficult for readers to understand the scientific phenomenon.

In my own experience, I have used some similar strategies as James Jeans. When I was working, I usually made presentations about computer networks to government officials who did not completely understand about computer-network. They, however, did know how to use computers. At that time, one presentation was "Building a Computer Network for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries." Their existing network had such slow modems that government researchers complained about the speed of the network and about the computers themselves, which were already obsolete. Once I started to explain our plan to government officers, I saw some of the listeners expressions change to frowns. I realized that they did not understand how the network speed would be faster than before if the obsolete system and computers were changed to an up-to-date system. When I saw their frowns, I tried to apply the strategies of analogy and common vocabulary. First, I compared a "network" with a "freeway." And I compared " data through a network" with "automobiles on a freeway." The slowness in a network system comes as traffic on a freeway without enough lanes. All drivers complain about this traffic problem just like the government officials were complaining about the slowness of their computer network. If the freeway had more lanes, then the automobiles could go faster. After that, whenever I explained our network plan to an audience, I used analogy and familiar vocabulary.

The strategy of James Jeans is more effective and efficient at making the topic understandable. It is understandable because he uses familiar analogies, simple vocabulary, and good sentence structure. When people with sophisticated knowledge in their field explain something to an audience with little background knowledge, it is essential for them to make their explanation as clear as possible.

Abstract

During 19^th century, the earth's environment has undergone major destructive changes. Some of the problems with depletion of natural resources and depletion of ozone layers were already familiar. As a result, consumers are becoming more interested in purchasing environmentally friendly products and consumers tend to be concerned about environmental issues. This paper is to examine the relationship between purchase behavior and consumers knowledge about environmental issues. As a result, age, educational level, family income and gender have something to do with level of concerns and purchasing behavior in researched countries. Since the location of the three studies was limited, I suggest that further research needs to consider purchasing behavior in all types of countries (developed, underdeveloped, culturally diverse, etc.): countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. To do so, we can find the solution of environmental issues and the improvement of the earth's environment.

The appearance of new industries and new technologies has brought us comfortable life as a whole. The invention of a car, for example, improved transportation dramatically. However, during the 19^th century, new technology and modernization are sure to deteriorate the earth's environment, for example, depletion of natural resources, damage to the ozone layer and loss of agricultural land. Therefore, environmental protection issues are becoming increasingly popular around the world. And most people are realizing that the environment is being destroyed and people are concerned about environmental issues. There is much research about the concerns of consumers in relation to environmental issues and how these issues affect their purchase behavior. Some studies are "Green Buying: The influence of Environmental Concern on Consumer Behavior" (1) 1997, "Concerns for Environmental Issues and Consumer Purchase Preference: A two-country Study" (2) 1996, "Market Segmentation of Green Consumerism in Hong Kong" (3) 1999. This paper will compare the three studies and look at the connection between environmental concern in relation to the purchase behavior of consumers as well as look at how to improve the level of consumers concerns about the environmental issues.

Although Chan's is an objective study (3), which is to segment the green market in Hong Kong, all three studies were objective in terms of evaluation of consumer's knowledge and concerns about the environment. The objective of Mainieri et al (1) is to investigate consumers knowledge and belief about environmental products, green buying habits and general environmental attitudes. The objective of T. S Chan (2) is "to evaluate consumers concerns for environment and to explore the relationship between concerns for environmental issues and purchase behavior as well as examine patterns in these relationships based on demographic variables. The three studies shared the belief that understanding environmental issues and concern for improving the environment would lead to actually improving the environment of the earth.

Only one study, T.S. Chan (2) stated a hypothesis: well-educated and high-income people were more likely to be concerned about environmental issues and likely to purchase environmentally friendly products. And he hypothesized that consumers were likely to be aware of the importance of environmental issues.

All three studies considered the age, education, and family income make-up in their samples. Regarding age, two studies had a wide range, from 18 to 68, in Chan (2) and from under 40 to over 60, in Mainieri et al (1). The other study described a median age of 36 years (3). Regarding educational level, two studies (1, 2) had a wide variety of education level, the range from completed high school or less to post graduate education. But the race make-up of subjects differed in each study. First, the Mainieri et al study looked at ethnic, Anglo-American: 76%, Asian American: 13%, Hispanic: 6%, other: 2%, and not identified: 3%. Second, the Kara Chan study looked at occupation: managerial and professional employees, unemployed and retired, students and production workers and other workers. A specific subject difference was seen in that T.S. Chan's study focused on female supermarket shoppers because he postulated, "Female respondents may be more inclined to make certain purchases compared with their male counterparts" (2).

T.S. Chan (2) and Kara Chan (3) used random/direct-interview at grocery super markets and gathered sample data for a specific period. The number of subjects interviewed was 198 and 704, respectively. So, Kara Chan's study was more comprehensive than T.S. Chan's study. Both studies inquired about purchase behavior preference and concern about the environment. In addition, Kara Chan focused on the relationship between green purchase behavior and demographics, perceptions about Environmentally friendly products (EFP), perceived social norm and self-identity regarding environmental issues.

Mainieri et al (1), on the other hand, used a direct-mail system, in which follow-up occurred after 10 days by sending a card. Although 800 questionnaires were mailed to households, only 201 households answered. So, the direct-mail method was not an effective way compared to the direct interview. The questionnaire was an attractive five-page booklet with a cover page of brief instructions. The survey items covered the following topics: environmental habits of consumers, confusion about product's, environmental claims, beliefs about environmental consumerism, attitudes of general environmental concern, behaviors related to the environment, and socio-demographics.

In order to investigate consumer's preference, two studies, T.S. Chan (2) and Kara Chan (3), used the same procedure. They categorized environmentally friendly products (EFP) like "Items in reusable containers," "products which can be recycled," "Products with refillable packages" and not-so friendly products (NSF) like "disposal product" and "aerosol sprays." Although the other study did not use the EFP or NSF categories, all three studies used almost same types of questions in order to investigate consumers purchase behavior at the grocery store, questions like "I try to buy things that come in reusable containers" and "I avoid using products that contain fluorocarbons" (1).

Second, all three studies investigated the level of concern or awareness about environmental products or issues. For the purposes of investigation, Mainieri et al (1) measured environmental concerns with a series of questions about participation in the activities like "participation in curbside recycling, if provided by the respondent's community" and "Respondent's recycling habits." T. S. Chan (2) used six environmental concern questions centered a round the following areas: water pollution, air pollution, waste disposal (including incineration and landfills), deforestation, ozone layer, and fossil fuels.

Kara Chan (3) used multiple formats, which included five questions regarding comprehension of two environmental claims and three green labels commonly used by local and international advertisers, manufactures and marketers. In order to segment green market, his research was more profound than any other and investigated relationship between green purchase behavior and demographics, perceptions about EFP, perceived social norm and self-identity related to the environment.

A specific difference was research-location, like eight different communities in Los Angeles (1), Hong Kong and Canada (2), and Hong Kong (3).

As for consumers purchase behavior, in the study by Mainieri et al (1), product quality most influenced the purchase decisions at the grocery store (on a 6 point scale, M=5.61, SD=I.22) as a whole. The next most important factor was their prior use of a product (M=4.9 SD=I.17). Its environmental safety was in the fourth position (M=4.19 SD=I.35) out of five. On the other hand, in the studies by T.S. chan (2) and Kara Chan (3), consumers tended to purchase EFP, "products in reusable containers," as the first priority for the environment at the grocery rather than NSF, "disposable products."

There were decisively different results in the three studies. Mainieri et al (1) found that age, income and educational level had nothing to do with any attitudinal and purchase behavior. In contrast, the other studies (2,3) found that education and family income strongly influenced attitudinal and purchase behavior: Higher education and higher income families were more likely to be concerned about environmental issues and heavy green consumers were likely to be higher education and to be in a higher income level.

All three studies concluded that consumers were more aware of the importance of environmental concerns and became more aware of the environmental effects of materials in general. In two studies, T.S. Chan (2) and Kara Chan (3), a further conclusion was presented better understanding of educating consumers and increasing their knowledge and level of concerns would lead to the improving of the earth's environment. In addition, heavy green consumers were more concerned about their health and the physical environment than light green consumers. So, marketers should use these benefits as a major selling proposition to promote green products.

In the two studies, T.S. Chan (2) and Kara Chan (3), further research was proposed. In the T.S. Chan study, it was suggested that many different settings needed to be studied because the number of statements was so limited and used only in a grocery shopping setting. Second, it was suggested that the gender of respondents should be considered because the subject make-up of his study was only female. Third, it was suggested that factors related to product Classification need to be considered. On the other hand, Kara Chan suggested that there was a need to explore what image people have about green consumers. Second, it was suggested that there was a need to take into consideration the environmental condition in Hong Kong as well as in the world.

The location of the three studies was developed countries rather than undeveloped countries. Indeed, destruction of the environment has happened all over the world. In short, it is a global problem. Therefore, I suggest that further research needs to consider purchasing behavior in all types of countries (developed, underdeveloped, culturally diverse, etc.); countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. And another further research is to consider economic background, growth, and recession. It is because consumes purchase behavior my have difference between boom and recession. Someone may be reluctant to spend its salary on green product during recession. In contrast, in spite of recession, someone may spends its salary on green products.

Although innovation of new technology has made remarkable gains in conserving resources and reducing pollution, technology can not be depended on for the solution to environmental problems. In order to sustain the environment, it seems imperative to increase the level of education and awareness about the environment. To do so, we have to work on the environmental education in elementary school. We have to work advertising about environmental issues as a social responsibility. And we have to work on encouraging people to participate in curbside recycling and other environmental activities.

Work Cited

1. Mainieri, Tina; Baenett, Elaine G.; Valdero, Trisha R.; Unipan, John G.; Okamp, Stuart. Green Buying: The Influence of Environmental Concern on Consumer Behavior. The Journal of Social Psychology. 1997: 137 (2), 189-204.

2. Chan, T.S. Concerns for Environmental Issues and Consumer purchase Preference: A Two-Country Study. Journal of International Consumer Marketing 1996: 9 (1): 43-55.

3. Chan, Kara. Marketing Segmentation of Green Consumers in Hong Kong. Journal of International Consumer Marketing. 1999: 12 (2): 7-23.

WINNING RACQUETS CASE ANALYZING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Almost all banks in Japan have very carefully loaned the money to firms since the bubble economy burst. As they loaned money to firms without warrantee during bubble, most of the banks still have had a lot of bad debt which sometimes amounted to approximately half of their assets. This causes them to go bankrupt and obligates those banks to form an alliance (even the biggest company) in order to continue to do business. The provision against bad debt by the Japanese government has been stalled. As a result, the economic situation hasn't recovered yet. But, in contrast the United States handled bad debt and usually loaned the money to the venture business without warrantee if the venture business has a good probability of success. This is one of the reason that economic situation in US has been good. I will first describe the background of the Winning Racquets and analyze it based on its financial statements.

The company was founded in 1959 and has been a successful manufacture of tennis equipment. The company's product line originally consisted of wooden tennis racquets, with the first year sales just over $55,000. The quality and construction of the racquets produced rapid success and by 1965 the company diversified into aluminum racquets, tennis balls, and tennis apparel. In the late 1980s Winning Racquets expanded again to capitalize on the racquets industry, sales growing rapidly to over $69 million in 1991. The company's NI has also risen rapidly and is expected to reach $6.5 million in the following year.

Winning Racquets first wanted to expand unsecured line of credit from $9 million to $12 million in order to allow the firm to raise its note payable from the current level of $ 8.2 million. Second, they wanted to request an 80 percent mortgage which costs about $24 million.

In order to analyze the company, I figured liquidity, Assets Management, profitability, debt and market value ratios for the company based on financial statements and compared it with the industry standard for 1997. Liquidity ratio: They seem not to be able to pay off its debts as they come due over the next year or so because its ratios are poor compared with industry average. This indicates that assets, which are expected to be converted to cash fairly quickly, do not cover the claims of short-term creditors. Assets Management: Inventory turnover ratio sounds good. They seem not to hold excessive stocks of inventory. However, their DSO is relatively higher than industry average and its DSO is greater than its last DSO. This indicates that they may have a hard time ever collecting what is owed. And they seem not to manage its assets effectively. Debt: The firm has relatively low debt ratios. But it has higher expected returns when the economy is normal. And they are exposed to risky of loss when the economy goes into a recession. And their TIE is higher than average. This indicates that they would not face difficulties if they attempt to borrow additional funds; debt ratio is good though. Profitability: They operate the business somewhat effectively because basic earning and profit margin ratios are somewhat good. Market value: Since their P/E ratio is below the average, this indicates that the company is regarded as being somewhat riskier than most, as having poorer growth prospects, or both. Investors think company's future performance and future prospect are not as good as before.

In conclusion, even if sales and NI of Winning Racquets have risen every in the year and if they did not have much debt, then there is some risk based on liquidity and assets management as well as market value. I think that I won't be able to expect their business growth as much as before. But Metropolitan Commercial Bank has had an excellent relationship with Winning Racquets and would like to continue to work with the firm as it finances its expansion and growth. So, they would accept second request which an 80 percent mortgage, but they won't accept first request which Winning Racquets wants expand unsecured line of credit from $9 million to $12 million. Otherwise they might have a lot of bad debt.

Being Responsible

I graduated from University of Trisakti at the end of 1997 with a bachelor degree in engineering. Realizing that I had passed the last comprehensive test, I experienced tears of joy at that moment as if that time was the greatest accomplishment that I ever had in my life. Afterward I called up my mother and said, "Mom, I did it, I passed the test with a good grade." And with tears falling down from my eyes I said, "Thank you mom, for all the prayers and encouragement that you have given me, allowing me to pass my entire comprehensive test with an excellent score." In fact, I realized that my mother is the key to my success.

The next day, I decided to look for a job that will satisfy my needs. However, I felt lazy to look for one because I feel that I have the need to be free from all the coursework's. After studying for five years to achieve my Engineering Degree I felt that this was the right time to have some type of relaxation. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my vacation plan because I had no place to go. Therefore, I decided to look for a job.

When I was a student in the university, I had a very bad habit of waking up late in the morning. Usually, I woke up around noon or later than that. Thus, if I had classes in the morning and felt that I did not want to wake up I would call my friend and asked them to sign up my name on the attendance roster. In fact, I kept this habit until I graduated with my B.S degree in Industrial Engineering. I continued this bad habit by sleeping the whole day and having fun on my routine.

Following my sleeping laziness my father called me up and asked me to talk with him. He says, "Do you realize that in the last few weeks you have not done anything other than sleeping, eating and traveling? Do you expect to have a successful future if you just hang around every single day?" I replied to my father by saying, "Dad give me a break, I don't want to be stress at this moment." However, my father told me that I need to think about my future career because I am the architect of my own success.

Following that hectic conversation, I started to think about my father's advice. I began to realize that I was being too lazy for the last few weeks and I needed to change my bad behavior. Therefore, on the next day I started to look for a job in the newspaper and began to send some of my applications to the potential companies.

After a few weeks, a letter surprisingly came to my house explaining that there was a company who were interested on my applications and looked forward to have an interview. At that moment, I felt happy to have a chance to get a job interview because I have never thought about this opportunity before. By having the chance for the interview I could prove my ability to my parents and myself especially my father. The next day, I went to the company for an interview. While I was driving, I tried to relax myself by hearing some soft music. After I arrived at the company, one of the HRD representatives gave me an interview for about 30 minutes. At the end, the representative told me that he was going to contact me after his manager reviews the interview's result.

After a few days gone by, one day my mother shouted at me and told me that there was a telephone call. When I picked up the phone I realized that it was from Triguna Corp., which was the company who had interviewed me a few days ago. My heart started to beat very fast and my mind began to wonder about what was the call about. However, when I answered the phone the officer told me that his manager approved my interview and wanted me to start working on Monday morning at 8 a.m. As a result, I hung up the phone and told my mother that I got the job. With a happy face she told me how proud she is to have a son like myself. Also, she informed my father about this good news and he replied to me by saying, "That's a very good news son, but you still have to remember that this is just the beginning of a long and hard working day. You have to wake up early every morning and come home late at night!" I realized the fact that my father words were true, but I still could not understand why he could not be proud of my achievement.

The next day my mom woke me up at 7 o’clock in the morning. Although my eyes were very heavy, my mother kept forcing me by saying, "Harry, hurry up and take a shower. It's already 7 o'clock, you have to be at the office before 8 o’clock!" I forced my feet to walk on the cold floor in order to go to the bathroom and take a shower. After I finished my shower and got dress up the time was already 7.45 a.m. So I quickly drove my car to the office. However, the traffic is very heavy and really slowing me down from reaching the office at the right time.

After spending about 20 minutes of traffic in the road, I finally arrived at the office. When I sat down on my chair, the boss secretary came toward me and told me that Mr. Bob want to see me right away. At that time I knew something was going wrong. Thus, I jumped right away from my chair and started to walk toward my boss' office. I knocked at the door and from inside I heard him inviting me to come inside his office. I came in and greeted him by saying, "Morning Sir." He replied back to me and told me to sit down at the chair while he was finishing something on his computer. My heart was beating very fast and my hand was sweating as if I was in the middle of a big confrontation.

After completing his computer works, he asked me about the reason of my lateness. With a trembling voice I told him that the traffic was the cause. I said, " I am sorry sir, but the traffic was very busy and that is why I came late today. However, he said that the traffic was not an excusable factor to come late on the first day of my job. His faces started to turn red and he appeared so angry at me. I just sat there and listened to what he had to say. In fact, I realized that I have done a very bad thing. After he explained the fatal things that I have done, he grabbed a piece of paper from his printer, asked me to read it, and signed it at the end.

When I started reading the paper I began to realize that the letter was intended to verify the end of my status at the company. In a simple word, I have been fired. I was shocked and disappointed. I looked at my boss eyes and projected my disbelief at his decision. Although my boss apologized for his decision by saying, "I am sorry to give you the letter but that is the company policy," I still could not belief the reality. I felt as if my heart has stopped beating for a moment.

However, I have learned a lot of things from this valuable lesson. I have learned that in order to become a successful person I have to be discipline and to be responsible. In fact, I have to teach myself to omit my laziness by waking up early in the morning. Although the painful experience about getting fired from a company still haunting me but I tried to look at that experience as an essential factor who have change the way I think, act, and behave myself. Now I realized the importance of discipline and responsible in determining one's success. I hope this valuable experience will guide me to the future and that I can use it as a valuable asset to become a successful person.

INDONESIAN SOCIETY

Indonesia is divided into twenty-seven provinces, and has approximately 300 different ethnic groups and dialects. Each culture has its own traditional apparel for different occasions and ceremonies, its own foods, weapons, types of houses, and religions. The five major religions in Indonesia are Islam, Protestant, Catholic, Hindu, and Buddhism. However, Islam is the most influential religion because it makes up approximately ninety percent of the total population. Furthermore, because of its many diversities, Indonesia has a national motto of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika which means "Unity in Diversity."

However, Indonesia is dealing with a lot of prejudice, racial, and religious issues at this moment. Although the diversity of the culture is Indonesia’s main power, it has also become its weakness. After the economic crisis hit Indonesia in 1997 and Suharto was forced to resign from the presidency, these problems arose rapidly and created a crisis for the nation. The reason for this problem is because some provinces outside of Java felt the government was unfair in distributing the economic wealth. Provinces felt that Suharto’s regime only benefited himself and cronies, who were abusing natural resources. In fact, they are frustrated because there are no major developments in their area compared to the major developments in Java. This is the reason why some of the provinces want to secede from Indonesia and form their own government. They are starting to think more about their own culture and beginning to deny the national unity.

Another factor that causes problems in Indonesia is the government’s role, which only favors the ethnic Chinese. During Suharto’s regime the government officials allowed the ethnic Chinese only to control the economy of the nation. The ethnic Chinese, who are mostly Christian, Buddhist, and Confucist, control more than seventy percent of the country’s private economy, although they represent just three percent of the population (Cohen). This is the reason why most riots are directed against the ethnic Chinese. The native Indonesians who are dominated by Islam realized that the wealth of the country was in Chinese hands while they remained poor in their own country after fifty years of independence. They started to fester racial hatred because the Chinese are more wealthy compared to all Indonesians.

In May 1998, this hatred became real action. There were big riots that took place in Jakarta and were directed against the Chinese. Some native Indonesians who were involved in these riots burned, raped, and killed Chinese people. They expressed their cruel objections and took revenge against the Chinese’s fifty-year monopoly over the country’s economy. Also, the native Indonesians felt that they had to express their emotional feelings against the Chinese after being treated as second class citizen for most of their lifetime. Most of the Chinese people have offered these rioters money in order to save their lives; however, the Indonesians have refused.

Furthermore, these riots have become the beginning of a revolution in my country, Indonesia. Native Indonesians started to protest the government policy, questioning the government’s authority. At that moment Indonesia’s government lost control over their people because the native did not have trust in them. However, the native people used this revolution as a turning point for them to express their hatred to the old regime who have treated them unfairly for more than thirty-two years. Therefore, the revolution has become a symbol of a transition period. By looking at the revolution in Indonesia we will realize that the events were very similar with Prof. Thomas S.Khun theory about paradigms. The theory of paradigm states: "Paradigms of physical optics are scientific revolutions, and the successive transition from one paradigm to another via revolution is the usual development patterns of mature science." For this reason, the theory of paradigm has proven its validity by using the Indonesia’s revolution as its fact.

Consequently, if government officials do not begin to take specific action, Indonesia will face massive destruction. There will be instability in the economy and politics because foreign investments and the ethnic Chinese are taking their money out of the country; different ethnicities will fight against each other, and there will be civil unrest. As a result, the economy will collapse and political life will be unstable because riots will start to occur as the climax of years of dissatisfaction by a nation that is fighting for its survival. This is why the government officials need to think more seriously about the race problems that affect the nation’s unity. In my opinion, I believe that the Indonesian government should make some changes about there policy.

The first step is for the government to implement the laws equally for everyone. Government officials need to educate the nation about the importance of laws. The judicial system has to promote laws and preserve justice as the fundamental base of the nation. The laws in Indonesia only benefit people with money and power and the others are left with injustice.

After implementing the law, the government should promote the unity amongst the cultures by using more effective action. This means that the government should distribute everything equally to each province. For more than fifty years, government officials have used natural resources from other provinces to develop Java. They have made promises to other provinces to develop their area, but the promises never developed into reality. For example, Kalimantan province contributed lumber, pearls, and oil to Java for more than fourty-five years. This province is one of the biggest contributors to Indonesia’s economic assets. However, to this day, there has been no major development in Kalimantan. People in Kalimantan still live in a primitive culture instead of having the knowledge of modern life. That is why government officials need to change their policy about distributing the natural resources equally to every province in order to preserve the wealth of the nation.

Government officials and the military do have a strong argument against the distribution of wealth. They have an invisible policy that declares that the main power needs to be in Java and that this area needs to receive the most resources. The reason for this argument is because Java has been the main island since the colonial era and the main power of the government is centralized in Java. Java has to be the center of everything and if they fail to maintain this power, the government believes that the nation will fall apart.

Some people will argue against such drastic change to the structure of Indonesian society. However, I as a student who have witnessed and experienced this revolution personally, believed that there has to be some sweeping changes in the government’s policy. The old policy, which was being implemented by the old regime, has caused the Indonesian people to suffer for more than three decades. Therefore, government officials can no longer ignore the laws, race problems, and lack of economic rights. They must take specific action in order to deal effectively with the problems. I hope in the future, the problems will be overcome and Indonesia can become a strong nation, which reflects justice, unity and human rights.

The Value of Self-respect

Every human being has self-respect. The only difference is the value of self-respect itself inside each of every one of them. Every person has different kinds of ways to determine the value of self-respect. However, I believe every person has earned self-respect at least once in their lifetime. The only difference is that sometimes people do not even realize that they have earned their self-respect. For example, sometimes one does a favor for someone without realizing that he has done some positive things that makes him earn the self-respect. However, without a lot of spirit and effort it will be difficult for me to maintain, to honor, and to deserve self-respect because as a human being I have done some foolish things during my life. Based on my past experiences, I know that I have earned my own self-respect; nevertheless, I am just a human being with weakness and the potential to do something that can jeopardize my own self-respect.

In my family, my parents always teach my brothers and I to keep and defend our self-respect from all the trials that we face in life. My father always teaches his children to keep our faith in GOD and believes that by always follow everything that is on the AL-Quran we will have the ability to live our life with pride and honor. Also we can earn the self-respect in our life by living with the pride and honor that we deserve. That is why I try to do my best to live my life based on what my father taught me; the way he lives his life and tries to avoid doing anything that is forbidden according to what the AL-QURAN demonstrates. By following this kind of life, it really helps me to build up and develop a discipline life, and helps me make many important decisions in my life, just as Didion defined about self-respect as having " a discipline, a habit of mind that can never be faked but can be developed and trained…."

When I was in junior high school I had a very bad habit, where I liked to distract and disturb my classmates at school and even after school. I liked to disturb them, because I realized that I had the power to do anything I wanted toward them. Also, I knew that they did not have self-respect. They always complained about my behavior toward them but I didn't really care about their complaints. So one day one of my teacher called my father and told him about my behavior in class. Immediately my father asked me to speak with him. He said he had just received a phone call from my teacher telling him about all the things that I'd been doing to my classmates. My father said," Herry, you can not do the things that you have been doing to your classmates! That is not a respectful way of life." After that he explained to me that if somebody else did something that I don’t like then I wouldn’t like it. He also explained to me that I have to respect others private lives if I want others to respect my private life. From that day I realized that if I wanted to earn my self-respect, I have to be able to respect and honor others.

From my past experience, I know that self-respect can only come from inside your heart and mind. Nobody can determine somebody else’s self-respect. The only person who can know the value of self-respect is yourself. I can know that I have my self-respect when I can value the meaning of life and always do the best that I can do to develop my life to be useful. Nevertheless, I will always respect somebody else’s private life as well as I respect my own. I always keep in mind that if I don’t want to be disturbed by somebody else, I will not disturb them either.

Didion mentioned the dismal fact that self-respect has nothing to do with the approval of others who are, after all, easily deceived; self-respect has nothing to do with reputation, but is something people with courage can do without. I also agree with Didion that self-respect inside each of us can only be determined by ourselves. I know, based on my experience and from the things that my father told me many times in the past, that if we want to earn our self-respect, first we have to be able to honor and respect others. With that we can understand the value of self-respect.

Didion said that to live without self-respect is to lie awake some night, beyond the reach of warm milk, phenobarbital, and the sleeping hand on the coverlet, counting up the sins of commission and omission, the trust betrayed, the promise subtly broken, the gifts irrevocably wasted through sloth or cowardice or carelessness. However, long we postpone it, we eventually lie down alone in that notoriously uncomfortable bed, the one we make ourselves. Whether or not we sleep in it depends, of course, on whether or not we respect ourselves. From Didion’s statement, I realize that a person without self-respect is like a drunk driver who does not have any direction about where to go in life. Therefore, one can use self-respect as guidance and as the base of consideration to the future.

After exploring the entire experience that I have been trough all my life, I can conclude that I have earned the self-respect for my self according to what Didion defined as self-respect. However, I still feel that I can not fulfill the self-respect because of my weaknesses and foolishness as a human being. Hopefully I will try to learn to understand self-respect and will try to implement self-respect on my daily life.

Statement of Purpose

From the time I graduated from Chulalongkorn Univeristy in Thailand, I was working for the company, a Thai Farmers Bank, and I gained experiences relating to Information Technology for almost 4 years. I am strongly determinated to succeed in my career goal. I now wish to pursue a Master’s degree in the U.S.A.

I am applying to the MBA program at California State University, San Bernardino because of the reputation of your program. My interests and my knowledge are mostly related to Business Information Technology, and they were applied to my job experience and have assisted in my decision making. I realize the importance of how to analyze business data effectively and to have a wide perspective of information right now; therefore, I choose to continue my education with a degree in the MBA program with the concentration in Information Technology to strengthen my management skills.

During the time I worked for Thai Farmers Bank, I was mainly responsible for the retail banking system in a position as a system engineer in the Information System Engineering Department. I was assigned to analyze, design and develop on-line banking application programs, such as Collection Cheque and a Computer-based Loan Approval System. I had to coordinate with each user from various departments inside the bank to get the user requirements and to deal with supporting teams from other companies such as IBM and Lotus Co. Ltd. I also had worked in a team whose task it was to solve the Y2k problem and then the Thai Farmers Bank was prepared for the year 2000 in time.

My undergraduate GPA was not high. The reason for this was that Chulalongkorn University, one of the best universities in Thailand, applies a very high standard to measure a student’s performance. I am confident that I have enough knowledge and work experience to study and participate in the MBA classes. I wish to exchange my experiences with those of other MBA students. With my intention, I will be able to take advantage of your MBA program and utilize the benefits of it in my future career.

After I graduate with a Master’s degree, I would like to be a project manager due to my experience background and the benefits I will gain from the MBA program. Finally, from the above statement, I believe that to study for the MBA at your university will assist me to accomplish my career goal and objectives.

Critique assignment: Year 2000 upgrades : A small price to pay

The Y2k compliant-problem was one of the most popular topics as we approached the new millennium year 2000, since a few years ago. Almost companies faced to this problem and spent a lot of money in order to adjust their computer systems. The Y2k problem not only caused many companies a lot of money but also created a fear in our mind.

Leon Kappelman wrote the article, "Year 2000 upgrades: A small price to pay" to persuade us that the Y2k problem has helped a company saving a lot of money in the past 35 years. He is one who claimed that the costs of Y2k Problem would not be tremendous and would be valuable to pay.

Kappelman simply explained why the Y2k problem is happening now by stepping back to the late 1950s and early ’60. That time when a computer was first created, it had a limited number of characters that fit on an 80-column punched card. At that time, only two-digits were recorded to represent the year to save precious space. He continued by giving statistic figures. In 1963, 1 megabyte of mainframe hard disk storage cost about $10,000 per megabyte per year (in 1995 dollars). Therefore, we continued to use two-digits to indicate the year in order to save money. He has specific statistics to show that disk storage is, just recently, inexpensive. By 1972, the annual storage cost was about $1,600 per megabyte and by 1983 it had plummeted to just under $20 per megabyte (in 1995 dollars). And in 1996 it was $1.08 per megabyte.

He estimated that one percent of extra disk storage would have been required through the year to use four-digits rather than two-digits in order to indicate the year. One percent doesn’t seem like very much for us but he could make it mean something. He calculated $160-$240 million (in 1995 dollars) overall has been saved over 30 years on an average of 10 G bytes of data and $10 million to $50 million estimated cost for a company to fix the "millennium bug."

Kappleman succeeds to give us a picture of why we stored only 2-digits of year and how much money we have been for using 2 digits rather than 4 digits. However, he states only one benefit and never mentions other effects. The effects of the Y2k problem cause more than just money to fix the Y2k problems. Many companies required their employees to work harder for the Y2k problem and some companies hire a professional team to solve it. It caused more money and time. Moreover Kappleman did not mention the mental effect. Everyone was panic and afraid of Y2k problem. People had a fear in their mind that Y2k would make their money in bank account disappear or their electric equipment would be broken. Also, it was risk to transport by airplane while we were changing to the new millennium. As a result, many companies stopped their services and business was pending for a while. The loss was more than we could estimate.

I agree with Kappleman’s idea that to save two digits rather than for digits in disk storage has saved companies disk space and money. This is really true when disk storage was extremely expensive in the past. However I do not agree with his idea that fixing Y2k-problem is a small price and it is worth to pay. He failed to persuade people that Y2k is not a big problem. In fact, it really caused losses much more than he thought.

In conclusion, Kappleman developed his idea step-by-step to makes it easy and clear to understand why we need to use 2 digits of year rather than 4 digits by giving specified numbers. However his overall idea is weak and he does not provide enough evidences to support his ideas that why it is worth to pay for fixing Y2k problem. He fails to convince us that Y2k is not a tremendous problem.

Anonymous, Thailand

Summary assignment : Eight Ways to Stop the Store

Albert Norman, a well-known opponent of Wal-Mart, wrote the article "Eight ways to stop the store". His purpose was to try to increase the number of people who are against Wal-Mart in order to stop Wal-Mart from being unfair to other small businesses. His method for accomplishing his purpose was to promote elections and his article persuades potential voters that Wal-Mart successes happen by stealing sales from other small retailers. According to Norman, this is 80% of Wal-Mart’s revenue.

The example of a rejection vote in Greenfield was raised. Norman wrote that Wal-Mart has held a grand opening of a new store somewhere in America almost every other day. This will not happen in his hometown, Greenfield, because voters lately rejected Wal-Mart through the vote. By comparing the Wal-Mart war to communities fighting the battle of Jericho success, they could Make "Wal" "tumbling-down".

He also described eight strategies to stop Wal-Mart by using implicit Religious words; Quote scripture, Learn Wal-Math, Exploit their errors, Fight capital with capital, Beat them at the grass roots, Get out your vote, Appeal to the heart as well as the head, and Hire a professional. "Quote Scripture" one of his strategies, suggests that we can use Wal-Mart’s word against itself. An example is given: "As Wal-Mart founder said ‘if some community, for whatever reason, doesn’t want us in here, we aren’t interested in going in and creating a fuss.’"

Norman suggested that people in the community should do something to show that they really don’t want Wal-Mart and then Wal-Mart will not be there.

In the conclusion, Norman is confident in this strategies and he uses the "Quote Scripture" strategy to emphasize that if community coalitions organize early, bring their case directly to the public and trumpet the downside of the mega-store, the "Wals" will fall down in Jericho.

Anonymous, Thailand

Summary "Eight Ways to Stop the Store"

By Albert Norman

Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum pp.136-137

The main idea of the article, "Eight Ways to Stop the Store" (appearing in The Nation, March 28, 1994) by Albert Norman, is that Wal-Marts’ successes have destroyed other businesses and resulted in a very negative impact so residents should stop Wal-Mart from going into communities.

He suggests eight strategies to "Stop the WAL," which resulted in the people of Greenfield, Massachusetts, his hometown, getting the victory. Norman compares the fight against Wal-Mart with the Biblical battle of Jericho. He believes that if people follow these strategies, they will win and the "WALs" will fall down, like the Walls of Jericho.

According the article, Norman wants readers to reject Wal-Mart by applying the "quote scripture" strategy. He gives an example: he quotes what Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and one company V.P. which indicate Wal-Mart will not get into the communities where local citizens don’t want Wal-Mart because it’s unreasonable and they have a lot of chances to get into other towns that want them and they can make more profits.

The second strategy is called "learn Wal-Math." He uses his town as an example. The companies in his town, Greenfield, paid for an impact study in order to stop three Wal-Mart stores. He stresses to the readers that Wal-Mart destroyed jobs and businesses. According to Norman, it rarely gives back to the community.

Norman affirms that Wal-Mart always makes mistakes such as rezoning the land for commercial use and such as allowing buildings to be larger than 40,000 square feet. He suggests that people bring these considerations to the attention of the general public. Like his town, maybe those towns will win in the vote so they could stop the WAL. He calls this strategy, "exploit their errors."

Furthermore, he agrees with "fight capital with capital." He thinks residents should spend money to stop Wal-Mart if Wal-Mart spends in order to get into their communities. He uses his hometown as an example. In his town, Greenfield, Wal-Mart spent more than $30,000 to win the victory, but the towns people raised $17,000, half of which came from local businesses, and it was spent to stop Wal-Mart.

The fifth strategy is "beat them at the grass roots." In his opinion, although Wal-Mart can buy public relations firms and telemarketers to communicate with people, local coalitions can draw opinion-makers from the business community. He also tells local citizens to make this effort like a political campaign, "The Citizens Versus the WAL."

Norman stresses that the vote is very important. In his strategy "get out your vote," he indicates to readers that the largest expenditure for fighting in Greenfield was on a local telemarketing company in order to poll 4,000 voters to lean against the WAL and to remind voters to exercise their rights against Wal-Mart on election day.

Moreover, in his view, it’s necessary to communicate with people on a sentimental level in order to indicate to people what will happen when Wal-Mart gets into their towns. He points out many negative effects such as destroying small-town folks and the quality of life which people can’t buy back. He concludes that it’s better to stop Wal-Mart before this situation has occurred, like it has in many towns.

Finally, he puts in the "hire a professional" strategy. He disagrees with fighting the world’s largest retailer with a mimeo-machine mentality. He thinks it’s the greatest mistake. People in towns should ask for advice from a political consultant who lives nearby the communities. So people can understand how to develop a media campaign and get the voters’ attention.

In the conclusion, Norman quotes the statement of a Wal-Mart executive to a community activist and describes it as blindly obstructionist. But he stresses to readers and activists that fighting to stop Wal-Mart’s development is the right thing because of the negative impact occurring in most towns. In addition, he is assured that if the communities have effective coalitions and follow some strategies, residents will win and the WAL will be tumbling down like the battle of Jericho.

Anonymous, Thailand

Critique "The Criminalization of Homelessness"

By Celiene-Marie Pascale

Writing and Reading Across Curriculum pp.320-322

Most countries have a homeless problem and most have similar measures in order to deal with homelessness. Like those countries, the USA is a country that has experienced a lot of homeless people and has many anti-homeless ordinances. Have you ever thought about whether these ordinances are the best way to solve the homeless problem? Have you ever thought about how these ordinances actually indicate that most people do not care about human rights? Celiene-Marie Pascale tries to tell readers through her article "The Criminalization of Homelessness" that this way, passing anti-homeless ordinances (in at least 50 cities in USA), is a misguided effort.

According to her article, we can infer the purpose of suggesting to city governments to review their policies and their anti-homeless ordinances. Also, she is suggesting that city’s should find a better way to solve this problem.

Pascale illustrates by presenting many cities in California (such as San Francisco, Berkeley, Santa Cruz as well as in New York City) as her examples. These cities already had adopted or were considering ordinances targeting the behavior of homeless people, such as ordinances against anti-loitering and sleeping in public. She believes that passing these laws is wrong and she explains that it makes non-criminal behavior to be criminalized. Also, she doesn’t think this approach can solve the homeless problem. She uses San Francisco as an example. In order to protect residents from robberies, whoever stayed for more than 60 seconds within 30 feet of an automatic teller machine, which was in use, could be arrested. However, according to a report on radio station KPFA, only 20 robberies were committed at ATMs in 1993. In other words, this ordinance was not really needed.

In addition to concerns for people’s safety, Pascale points out another reason why many cities are passing anti-homeless ordinances; that is, cities pass these ordinances in order to protect businesses. Visible poverty, homeless people panhandling and sleeping on sidewalks, could discourage shoppers and make them turn to other stores. Hence, merchants consider this as the greatest threat for businesses. So, it’s not surprising that while some merchants donated to nonprofit organizations serving the homeless, they also have supported these ordinances and were against homeless people who challenge the ordinances.

She refers to the state of Henry Cisneros, secretary of housing and urban development, to indicate to readers about the wrong point of view of governments. According to Cisneros’s state, there were 7 million American homeless people between 1985 and 1990 and he believed that it’s the fault of the individual rather than society. So, governments tried to pass ordinances to limit homeless people and their behavior in stead of trying to find ways to improve their conditions.

Pascale stresses that anti-homeless ordinances are indicating that city governments and people generally concerned only about civil liberties, such as the right to walk on a clear sidewalk without confronting beggars. But most people didn’t care about the basic human rights of homeless, such as the right for food and shelter.

Moreover, in her conclusion, Pascale persuades readers to also be against these laws by using some Berkeley ordinances as an example to make her case. Pascale lets readers consider whether it’s a good idea to solve this problem by limiting people to carrying one shopping bag. Whoever would discarded half of his or her possessions because someone found it offensive for a person to be carrying two shopping bags.

After reading this article, in my opinion, Pascale informs readers well about anti-homeless ordinances in many cities in the USA. A lot of details are provided in her article and this indicates that she has researched very well.

However, if we infer her purpose to be suggesting that city governments should review their policies and their ordinances, I don’t think this article is strong enough to convince someone. She should give more specific information and examples to indicate for readers how this effort, passing anti-homeless ordinances, is not successful to solve the homeless problem. It would be more clear if she compared a number of homeless people in cities before and after using these laws. According to her article, Pascale uses an example to show how this effort failed, only in San Francisco.

Furthermore, due to her conclusion, she questions people and city governments about the basic human rights to food and shelter of homeless people; it would be better if Pascale suggests effective measures to deal with homeless. Even though she does not intend to propose her opinion about resolution for this problem, it is inevitable for people to think that it is not safe for them to walk through people panhandling and sleeping on the side walk. So, when she asks readers to care more about the human rights of the homeless, she should specifically explain why we should do that. Moreover, she should suggest what we should do, the best way for both people generally and the homeless.

In conclusion, Pascale has the strength to inform readers about anti-homeless ordinances in detail. People can understand and follow her article which is coherent. However, it needs more persuasive arguments to convince people and city governments to change their attitudes and behaviors toward homeless people. Also, it needs more reasons and details to convince city governments to find out a better way to deal with homeless as her purpose for this article.

Anonymous, Thailand

A Critique of Two Articles

Due to globalization, it’s not surprising that most people around the world can see American products, such as Hollywood films, the CNN news channel, television shows and so on, from their homes. Also, like most businesses, some medium and entertaining investors move into foreign countries, where interesting and profitable places exist. It seems that most corners of the world accept American popular culture. However, the question right now for American industries and investors is whether they can still rely on Americanization to export their products and to get into foreign countries or not. If not, what should they do?

Two articles, "A World View" by an unknown author (appearing in Economist, Nov.29, 1997), and "Think Globally, Script Locally" by Frank Rose (appearing in Fortune, Nov.8, 1999), have similar ideas for this issue. The main idea of these articles is investing in foreign countries is the good way, but more important local culture and local content are the things that should be considered.

According to the main idea, we can infer the author's purposes that they are suggesting American companies to emphasize local culture by producing local programs or mixing of American with local content.

In addition, the writer of "A World View" tries to tell governments of foreign countries that they should not restrict globalization, because it can have positive effects for their countries. At least, it’s a way to ensure diversity of media. While Rose’s supplemental purpose, in "Think Globally, Script Locally," is to suggest that American companies invest in foreign countries, because they can have lower budget and many countries are interesting markets.

Both articles are strong enough to make American companies and investors reconsider their business policies. Although the authors don’t use persuasive argument, these articles present strong evidence in a way to convince someone. The evidence takes the form of a lot of details, examples, case studies, and statistics. However, there are some differences between them as to detail.

In "A World View," the author explains to readers about the factors that make American culture and American products more popular and about how they have spread through out the world more than others. However, he mentions that imported programs, American products, are the second choice of local people. So, people and government should not be concerned that American products and investments will destroy or influence local culture, national politics, and so on, because American companies will provide local people with local content or mixing of American and local content for making their profits higher.

In my opinion, the author did inform readers well and it’s reasonable for American companies to follow his suggestion. However, the article is too weak to convince local government and people to accept Americanization or globalization without restriction. The author does not give enough proof for local government that local cultures will not be affected by American products or American culture. Also, he should give more specific details and examples to indicate what benefits local people will get from permitting foreign medium and entertaining investment.

Rose tells readers through his article, "Think Globally, Script Locally," more specific than the other article regarding the case of investment in foreign countries. He uses Sony’s Columbia Tri-Star as an example, which is successful in television and movie industry in Asia, especially in Hong Kong, China, and India. The key to success of this company is combining of the local rich culture and the professionalism of Hollywood.

With this case, readers can understand well about the strategy that a big company uses to be successful in foreign countries. And it’s effective in order to convince American producers to pursue this strategy. However, that Rose mentions some problems in Asia, such as economic crisis, government regulation, piracy, and so on, can discourage some companies that have the idea to invest in Asia countries because these problems make companies lose a lot of potential profits.

Both articles, "A World View" and "Think Globally, Script Locally," are effective in order to persuade someone with its strong evidence of information and detail. Although there are some weak points about their secondary purposes, they are not serious. Readers can get their main idea and follow their main purpose. Readers, particularly American companies and investors, can get the answer of what their strategies should be to make a high profit from exporting their medium and entertaining products and investing in foreign countries.

Right now, in globalized age, American companies can not rely on Americanization any more. They should respect the diversity of local cultures and consider them to make the right decision about what local people need. Providing them with their tastes is the best way for business to make higher profits.

Anonymous, Thailand

Museum Observation

For this paper, I would like to choose a piece, "Portrait of Baron Joseph" by Jean-August-Dominique Ingres, at Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. And I will observe this piece from several aspects which are this work's function, formal elements, Ingres' narrative technique, and effects of this piece for me.

This painting is a classical style portrait which is typical work of Ingres. The model, Baron Joseph, was a supporter of Ingres' work and he was a mayor of the city where Ingres was born. In this painting, the model was perfectly represented as a person who was in high rank and a intellectual by many beautiful decorations on his chest and his prideful appearance. It would satisfy the customer, Baron Joseph, like other Ingres' customers for their portraits, with its expression of noble character and official likeness. Especially, he was a politician, so it's important to represent official likeness in this portrait because a portrait was an emblem of the person's character in this period.

We can find many classical formal elements in this painting. They are colors which are not strong but clear, and it's similar to color usage of fresco. The direction of his eyes toward viewers directly, and the figure is half-length and three quarter view. This is very classical portrait style which is made popular by "Mona Lisa (Da Vinch)." This classical figure also similar to his masterpiece of portrait, "Paganini." "Paganini" was not painted by oil and it did not use any colors, but both of the model is looking straight toward us and sticking out their chest with self-confidence. Another classic element is the impression of his face. The face is described as very sweet and gentle, and he is even smiling slightly. This point is also recognized in "Paganini" again. It almost looks like a woman's face, which is influenced by Raphael's Madonna. These elements make this painting a classic portrait, but only the background is different. The background is not typical as classic portrait which are landscape, indoor, or plain. It's composed by just pale blue sky and clouds, and they make fresh atmosphere surrounding the model, and even represent a little bit of romantic atmosphere. This background is one of the Romantic element in this classical style portrait. But the other hand, this background sky is very similar the sky which was depicted in Rococo painting. This combination of the man's figure and the sky is very interesting composition.

We can find many typical Ingres' technique in this piece. Most significant his typical technique in this piece is the smoothness of the lines and surface which is also influenced by Raphael. They are almost artificial and idealization of the model. As the result of this smoothness, the model of this portrait looks as if he was ideal person who was in the ancient story or an ancient statue. But in contrast, we can find two small stitches of button on the inside of his collar, and they are very stood out in this painting because of its realism. They are only elements which represent realism in this painting. I suspect this presentation reflects the mood of this period that people had desire for nature, and the mood was mixed with classical forms by Ingres. Ingres' technique is founded in the depiction of clothes of the model, also. The contrast of bright face and dark colored jacket lead our focus to the face. And the very white collar of his shirts helps to float the model's face up is so effective because the white reflects light to the face. In contrast, the detail of the black jacket was not painted well. With this presentation, Ingres could get viewer's attention to the decorations on his chest and his face.

This neoclassical style portrait doesn't present me real story. But I can imagine people's visual desire in the nineteen century. There were many invention in this period, therefore people began to want to control and possess nature. More specifically, as the influence of the invention of photography, this desire appeared as a wish to fix and get their own figure permanently. Before photography, the way to look at their own accurate figure was only looking into mirrors. Of course they had the traditional way to fix their own figure, painting portrait, since early times, but the desire which lead people to painting portrait was totally different in this period. The desire was that people wanted to possess vision like other physical things. This desire united with painting. Painting portraits are the best way to make their wish come true because they could idealize the figure according to their order. Photographs could capture their true figure but it couldn't do the idealization. when people create their own portrait which would remain permanently even after their death, they would usually wanted to idealize the figure.

Another impression of this painting is extent and depth. Usually, portrait was not required depth of scene, because viewer's focus should be on the figure of the model especially when the model's figure was half-length. And also the leading of focus was usually wish of the customers who ordered their own portraits. But in this Ingres' work, the background is a part of the huge blue sky. I can imagine entire sky from this small piece of sky. This painting represents out side of the canvas, also. And I feel not only extent but also depth with this piece. The sky ought to be far behind of him, and as the result of the sense of distance, I feel the depth which looks like three dimensional pictures. I can even see that his face is floating up from background. This effect is not only by background sky, also the contrast between background and the model's figure. Almost of all part of the model's outline, edge of his head and jacket, are drawn by black. This line looks very sharp because of the contrast with the pale blue of background.

I can recognize another Ingres' sense of composition in the usage of background. He uses just a part of landscape for background, and it made this composition looks like photograph. This scone which was depicted in this canvas was cut out from entire landscape and this is same way to capture a scene by camera. Although the technique of photography was not developed enough especially about process of printing in this period, Ingres had a sense of clipping out scone already.

The reason which make this painting attractive for me is combination of classic elements and sense of the forefront. Ingres represented the scene having senses of various periods. Sometime this gap of each elements makes unnatural feeling, and this is one of this picture's attraction.

Anonymous, Japan

Summary of "Beauty… and the Beast of Advertising"

The author, Jean Kilbourne, is a filmmaker and lecturer against alcohol and cigarette advertising and gender stereotypes in the media. This article, "Beauty… and the Beast of Advertising," appeared in 1989 in the Media & Values. In this article, Kilbourne described how advertisement affected women’s image in society and in their own eyes, using three images that ads provided.

According to Kilbourne’s research, the average adult will spend one and one-half years of his / her life watching television commercials, and all of us are exposed to over 2,000 ads a day. She claimed ads were the most powerful educational force in society, and they sold values, images and concepts of success and worth, love and sexuality, and popularity and normalcy that eroded individual values and standards. Most teenagers were very sensitive to this pressure because of their lack of experience, so they accepted the three images set out.

The first image that Kilbourne described was "Housewives or Sex Objects." She stated that women were usually described as housewives or sex objects in ads. The housewives who were obsessed by cleanliness debated cleaning products, and the women who appeared as sex objects had no pores, and were thin, tall, long-legged, and young. Because of these images, women felt ashamed and guilty if they failed to emulate this physical perfection.

The second element was "Creating Artificiality." This means the images provided by ads could only be achieved artificially. As the result of this artificial ideal in ads, Kilbourne argued that women were made to feel dissatisfied by themselves and viewed their faces or bodies as objects. Also, they could not get old if they achieved the ideal, and they were required to be both sexy and virginal. These images invited frustrations for adult women and dangers for children.

The third element was "Influencing Sexual Attitudes." Kilbourne’s argument about this effect was that advertising’s approach to sex was pornographic, and young people learned this reduction of sexuality. She also claimed, as the second effect of these images that another image of "new woman" appeared. This image was presented as superwoman who could manage all works at home and on the job perfectly without sociological problems.

In the conclusion, Kilbourne said that ads were not cause of problems, but they contributed to a certain climate. If we ignore the strong influence of advertisements, they can destroy even any awareness and action that might help to change that climate, she says.

Anonymous, Japan

Daytime TV Talk Shows and American Pop-Culture

When I came to the United States first time, the daytime TV talk shows were very impressive because of their unique presentation. In this paper, I will consider what characteristics of American culture can be found in daytime TV talk shows. For this analysis, I will compare the culture of American people with the culture of Japanese people. The purpose of this comparison is to make its cultural characteristics clear. First, I will take up three elements which people expect for daytime TV talk shows. They are types of issues that concern every American who watches daytime TV talk shows, experts who present moralities, and audience’s and host’s reactions. Then, by comparing with Japanese culture, I will consider the reasons of each element. At the end of this paper, I will define the characteristics of daytime TV talk shows as a part of American pop-cultures. This analysis will reconsider the American culture for the American people.

The first elements, types of issues that concerned every American who watches daytime TV talk shows, are what people expect for daytime TV talk shows. These are social problems or personal matters (Shattuc 8) that have certain tendencies such as violence, sexuality, shocks, negative emotions, and obscene tastes. I interviewed a man whose name is Jim. He is a medical student and often watches daytime TV talk shows. He said the most impressive episode was one in which a man confessed to his current girlfriend that he found a new girl friend on the internet. But he had to explain that the new girlfriend was male, which he realized when they arrived in the studio. Then a fight broke out in front of the audience and the camera. This story contained every sensational element.

I also asked Jim and three other people if they wanted to be guests on this type of show. All of them answered no, but they said they wanted to be in the audience. This result indicates people want to enjoy somebody else’s troubles which there are no relationship to themselves. This means that viewers experience shocking situations without any risks. Judging from TV advertisements, I could recognize clearly the targeted viewers were housewives, students or people who didn’t work during daytime. Although these people hope for ordinary, stable everyday lives, they also want some excitement in their lives, so they experience virtual problems through the media.

Of course, this kind of expectation for the media exists in other countries’ cultures. In Japan, there are TV programs which deal with social problems or personal matters also, but the way they are presented is different. The guests never fight in front of the public, and there are not obscenities and exposed sexuality. Audiences and hosts consider the issues as serious problems, and the atmosphere tends to be very sympathetic. Also, the Japanese do not express their emotions or opinions strongly, so sensational scenes do not appear. In contrast, in the United States, people think they should express their opinions and emotions openly. I think this belief has led daytime TV talk shows towards violence, which have been criticized frequently.

The second element is experts who present moralities. Usually, daytime TV talk shows have experts who give special opinions to the guests, and sometimes hosts play that role. As an effect on these people, the shows can become places for counseling such as in Donna Gains’ article, How Jenny Jones Saved My Life. Why William Benetts Is Wrong about Trash TV (qtd. in George and Trimbur 22). In her article, she explained that when the relationship between her and her husband was the worst, the Jenny Jones show supported her even she was just a viewer. But on the other hand, usually guests don’t hear experts’ opinions seriously, or experts don't give enough suggestions to solve their problems. The role of experts is not to counsel guests in the shows. The purpose is to make viewers believe they are watching counseling.

In Japan, also, there are experts in the programs that take up the same kinds of issues. But the experts give enough suggestions to the guests, and their opinions are usually the center of the shows because the purpose of the shows is solving problems. It looks very different from American shows, but the psychologies of viewers are almost the same. But Japanese people want to act perfectly as if they are involved in counseling. From this fact, I could recognize Japanese people’s tendency that they have a stricter morality than Americans, especially about violence or sexual expression. Both Japanese and American viewers want to watch unusual dramas and become a imaginary participant of the show, but this kind of interest is aimed chiefly at amusement with a sense of sin. The existence of experts can deny this sense of sin, so viewers expect experts’ serious opinions based on morality.

The third element is the audience’s and host’s reactions criticizing or sympathizing with the guests. When viewers watch daytime TV talk shows, they always make sure if their social norms are politically correct or not. Viewers feel comfortable when they watch the hosts or audiences criticize the guests as they would because they can confirm if they have correct social knowledge. Also, if a viewer’s reaction is the same as the reaction of the host or audience, the viewer feels he or she is a participant of the society.

American people think political correctness is the most important thing when they making judgment. In contrast, the Japanese do not always think so. If the issue is a very personal matter, the Japanese might value sympathy above correctness of judgment. Therefore, in Japan, people don’t react directly to attitudes of guests even if the attitudes violated their morality. From this comparison, it is obvious that criticism is the American cultural characteristic. This tendency results in audience’s reactions and expectation, so that their critiques agree with audience’s critique.

Although the viewers like to criticize guests, their opinions can change easily by emotional reasoning. In one of the daytime TV talk shows, "Leeza", the result of a vote asking whether the audience agree with the guest’s opinion or not was shown twice on the bottom of the screen. The guest’s assertion was that she didn’t need to return her engagement ring to her ex-fiancé because he broke the engagement. The first time, the results revealed that 80% said yes and 20% said no. Many members of the audience told their opinions that supported the guest’s view by speaking to the host. Then the second vote result was that 86% said yes and 14% said no, in spite of the fact that no new information about the guest was revealed. This phenomenon indicates that viewers of daytime TV talk shows change their opinion instantly, even though they disagree very strongly in the beginning.

A case of murder that was reported in New York Times by Keith Bradsher (qtd. 22) indicated how easily people change their opinion when exposed what sounded like a reasonable explanation. In this case, Jonathan Schmitz killed Scott Amedure, who revealed he was Schmitz’s secret admirer on the Jenny Jones show. Schmitz was supposed to be of first degree murder, but it also changed to second-degree because the jury thought the show’s tactics drove him to the killing. But he killed a person just because of a emotional reason. This fact should not be confused with the show’s bad influence. If the show had some bad influences, it should be criticized at another place, not in the courtroom.

I could recognize three cultural characteristics from three elements I proposed. One of these characteristics that I drew from first element, types of issues that concern every American who watches daytime TV talk shows, was the effect of technology. America is a one of the most advanced countries in the world. When technology was developed, people’s way of getting information changed. Photographs, printing, movies, TV, computer, and internet have continued to provide them with visual experiences. People in developed countries now have tendency to experience what they want using through technology. Therefore, people who are bored with their lives are likely to get imaginary excitement through the media.

What I drew from the second element, the experts who present moralities, was a morality as excuse. People cannot enjoy somebody’s problems without any excuse. This kind of morality is not indigenous characteristic of the United States. Daytime TV talk shows use experts to provide morality to the programs, and their existence is a good excuse for viewers to look at people who are suffering personal problems. This morality certainly composes one characteristic of American culture.

From the third element, audience’s and host’s reactions, I could recognize that American people attach great importance to expressing their thoughts. They can be easily moved by emotional effect. The importance of free expression was symbolized and supported by the First Amendment. This is also a part of cultural characteristic composing daytime TV talk show today.

The people’s desire to see somebody’s personal trouble as a gossip is a general tendency. We can recognize it in American but in any country as well . In the United States, because of this desire combined with these three characteristics of American culture that I have just described, daytime TV talk show remain popular today.

Works Cited

George and Trimbur. Reading Culture. New York: Longman, 1999.

"The High Price of Heartbreak." Leeza. UPN 13, New York. 13 Jan. 2000.

Anonymous, Japan

Money and Equality in Education

The American school system is an enormous part of American culture because literally every child in the U.S. is required to attend some forms of schooling until reaching the age of roughly eighteen. The importance of education is now as universally accepted by all Americans, as is the right to democracy, as being a fundamental right. The aspect to the question is whether or not schools follow along the same lines as the intention of democracy. Is everyone created and treated equal? Or, is the reality in the fact that the money plays the biggest factor in the quality of the education received? In this paper, this issue will be explored by examining education in America, resources, teachers, and communities, by comparing Rialto Unified and Beverly Hills Unified, two distinctively different school systems in California.

The economic make up of a community and population plays an important role in the quality of education. Neighborhoods with more resources do have a better tax base than one that is not. The one with the lower tax base would have difficulty in allotting money for the support of their schools. In 1996 to 1997, total Tax revenues for Rialto of $15,108,710 for the population of 82,000 compared to Beverly Hills $65,614,700 for the population of 34,000 (California Department of Education). This in turn sets the stage for older, possibly, run down facilities. Crowding of classrooms due to lack of space or the need for a new school could be addressed more feasibly in a neighborhood with the higher tax base. While comparing the communities of Beverly Hills and Rialto, Beverly Hills is a wealthier community and Rialto is of middle-class to poor community. This is clearly reflected in its expenditures per pupil of $6,510 compared to Rialto’s expenditure of $4,680 per student (California Department of Education). But how does the money spent effect the quality of education for the students?

Resources have a big impact on the quality of attainable education. Inadequate lighting, the conditions of the cafeterias and supplies, such as paper, pencils, art supplies, and access to musical instruments, all play a part in the overall educational experience. If there are not enough books to go around, or students cannot take their own books home, or have to share them, this would greatly inhibit the quality of the education received. The amount of monetary contributions enables the school to have newer facilities, more books, supplies, and instruments. Additionally, in the modern world, computers have become staples in business and personal lives. A part of the education process is to prepare students for their future and this will inevitably include computers. Keeping up with technology and having up-to-date computers are advantages to education today. While visiting an elementary school in Rialto, it was evident that Apple IIe’s at the computer station were not being used. Inquiry with the teacher suggested that there were no disks and the teachers were not really sure how to use them.

Another area that money can contribute for a better education is having more qualified and educated teachers. The need for qualified teachers who can lead students to critical thinking is one of the major keys. It is not an easy job to lead students to critical thinking, and usually only well-trained teachers can do so. According to our own schooling experiences, some schools, for budget limitations, have combined the teachers’ job descriptions, forcing them to teach multiple subjects. Some teachers are required to instruct students in areas in which they haven’t received proper training. The level of education and experience teachers bring to the classroom would greatly affect the learning opportunity of the students. In Beverly Hills Unified School District, 38.5 percent of the teachers have received Master’s Degrees. In Rialto Unified School District, the margin drops drastically to two percent (California Department of Education).

The more time a teacher can spend with a student, the more of an impact that teacher will have on the student’s education and success in life. Take for example, Gary Walters, a member of our writing team, and his third grade teacher Miss Roach. When he began attending a new school as a third-grader, he could not read or write at all. There were perhaps fifteen children in his class. During detention each day, Miss Roach began to tutor him, teaching him how to read and write. By the end of the year, his grades had improved slightly, and it was decided that he would be promoted to fourth grade, but he had to go to summer school. Throughout the summer, Miss Roach kept teaching him. Summer school came and went, and fourth grade began. Then one day his new teacher handed out report cards. He had earned almost straight A's.

In addition to showing the impact a teacher can have on a pupil, the story points out that classroom size does affect the time a teacher can spend with a student. In the student per teacher category, the Beverly Hills Unified does have an advantage over Rialto Unified. Beverly Hills Unified has a 16.6 student to teacher ratio while Rialto Unified has 22.5 (California Department of Education).

Enticing a more qualified and motivated educator into the school system, within the lower tax based neighborhood, would require higher wages. To attract teachers to the Rialto Unified District, the average pay, including teachers, administration and support staffs, should be slightly over $5,000 more than that of Beverly Hills Unified. The recorded averaged salary amounts are $49,330 for Beverly Hills Unified and $44,260 for Rialto Unified (California Department of Education). Paying more money for a teacher, especially in poorer school districts, means less money being spent directly on students, or on supplies.

A superior education does mean more economic opportunity through higher paying jobs and the benefits associated with employment. In America, professionals considered to be of great importance are well paid, and require individuals to obtain certification relevant to their chosen career field. Inability to attain a quality education prevents individual from these fields. From kinder garden to twelfth grades, we have demonstrated that more money does buy a better education through better buildings, classroom sizes, and better teachers. In closing, the cultural experience of school is of inequality due to the amount of money and quality administered to education, and certainly is not of equality.

Works Cited

California Department of Education. 10 Oct. 1999. RAND California. 7 Feb. 2000 <http://ca.Rand.org/stats/economics.html >

Anonymous, Japan

American Eating Culture

In Southern California, people usually like to eat Mexican food because of their geography. Also, people go to fast food restaurants quite frequently. Therefore, the site I chose for this paper was Taco Bell, a Mexican fast food restaurant, on Redlands Blvd., in the city of Redlands, California. In this site, I found three significant images or styles that relate to American eating culture. The logo design of Taco Bell reflected multinational dietary culture of the United States. The composition of customers indicated that even young children and elderly people who should not eat fast food frequently eat it in this country. Also, the number of seats that the restaurant prepared shows relationship between American transportation and its eating culture.

The outside wall of Taco Bell was built with white bricks, and there was a big Taco Bell logo on the wall. The logo was mainly composed by a yellow bell surrounded by a red square. This logo was printed on the packages of all products, it was on the shirts that employees wear, and it is on the signboard as well. The roof was triangle figure like a church. There was a drive through on the side of the building. At Taco Bell, there are approximately 80 seats. The photos of the Chihuahua dog were hung on some of the windows. Five employees were working, and they were all Mexicans wearing red shirts with Taco Bell logos on their chest. Customers were not only young people but also old men, mothers with their young children, and business men in suits. Almost all of customers stayed no longer than fifteen minutes.

The first icon, which I felt was significant, was the logo design of Taco Bell, which reflects America’s multicultural food situation. The bell is a positive icon of Mexico. People can imagine a Mexican church or its independence in 1810. September 15, 1810, in Dolores, Mexico, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla climbed the tower of his parish church and rang the bells, proclaiming Mexican independence from Spain ("Hispanic" 12). Of course many American people don’t know this relationship between bells and Mexican history, but they are supposed to imagine something about Mexico from the bell, which is one of the symbols of Mexican nationality and its mission churches.

Needless to say, the United States borders on Mexico, and many Mexican people have immigrated to the southern part of the United States. American people can see Mexican churches in their own neighborhood, and there are bells on the top of these churches. Also, people can frequently see and go to Mexican food restaurant that Mexican people are running. These two Mexican cultural icons, the bell of Mexican church and Mexican food, are very familiar with Americans. Actually, if nobody could sense the relationship between the bell and Mexican food, the logo does not work as an ad at all. From the fact that a Mexican food restaurant uses the image of bells for their ads, I could see the multicultural eating culture in the United States that relates with its geographic setting and Mexican history.

In the shop of Taco Bell, I saw many kinds of customers. There were not only young people but also old people, mothers with children, and a business man. The main target of the chain is males who are within the ages eighteen to twenty four (Kramer, Snyder, and Cardona), but their customers are not limited to those people. Of course, I can imagine that there are differences between the composition of customers using drive through and customers eating inside. But I could see various kinds of customers at least inside of the restaurant. People who have enough money to go to an expensive restaurant also go to fast food restaurants for their lunch. People who are too old to eat high-fat and high-calorie food also go to fast food places. Mothers take their young children, who need nutritionally balanced diet, to the fast food places.

The menus of fast food restaurants usually contain too much fat because it’s cheap and fast to cook with deep fryer. If they cook the same amount of food with ovens or pans using a little bit of oil, the time and cost for cooking would be too great for a fast food restaurant. Also meat contains lots of fat, which makes the taste smooth, and they use salty seasoning or sauce to cover the lack of meat taste. According to the database by Hearst Corporation, one of the Taco Bell’s menus, Burrito Supreme, contains 503 kilo calories of energy per one serving, and 39.4 % of the energy is from fat. Also it contains 1181 mg of sodium and 33 mg of cholesterol ("The Kitchen Counter"). Furthermore, in fast food, there is not enough of the vitamins and fiber that we need to get from vegetables or fruits. This type of nutrition affects people’s health badly, especially young children who are in the process of growing and elderly people who should be aware of their nutrition to prevent adult diseases. Mothers and older people are supposed to know this fact, but they still eat fast food because it’s easy and cheap. This convenience and cost is absolutely a feature of American eating culture.

I also recognized that there were only 80 seats in the Taco Bell. Taco Bell is the biggest chain of Mexican fast food restaurants in the United States, but usually there were not enough seats for all their customers inside. The reason is that many customers don’t eat inside of the restaurant. If the restaurant relied on customers who sit at the tables and eat, they could not get enough sales to be the biggest Mexican fast food restaurant in the United States. Customers buy products at the drive through and take it back to their office or school, or eat inside their car. From this fact, I can say that American eating culture strongly relates with the American transportation culture. In the United States, public transportation is not popular. The biggest reason for the phenomenon is geography. The land is huge, so, if people use the train or bus, they have to walk a long distance from stations or bus stops to the places where they want to reach. This is not very practical. In this country, there is a free way road system, people can get driver’s licenses quite easily, and they can buy cheap used cars everywhere. Using people’s own cars is the most practical way to get around to do everything. So, for eating, people don’t want to park the car, go to inside, order their food, and eat inside, especially when they are in busy during the day. This relationship between the eating culture and the transportation culture is significant.

From this research, I could understand the characteristics of American eating culture, which relate to another cultural issues. Taco Bell’s logo design symbolizes a multicultural country, the United States. The composition of customers relates American’s eating habits that contradict ideal nutrition throughout all ages. Also, the number of seats indicates America’s transportation culture. If people watch carefully something that is part of a culture, like I did in this paper, they can realize that culture is created by many relationships with other sub-cultures or issues. They can apply a way of interpretation to understand any images or styles, and then they can understand how their own attitude is reflected in these images or styles.

Works Cited

"Hispanic Alamic." Hispanic. 24 Sep. 1994: 12. Epnet.com. 1996 EBSCO Publishing. 1 Mar. 2000 <http://ehostvgw.epnet.com/ehost1. asp?key=204.179.122.141_8000_-1984961825&retern=y&aite=ehost >.

Kramer, Louise, Beth Snyder, and Mercedes M. Cardona. "Taco Bell marketing chief to go." Advertising Age. 31 Jun. 1999: 1-2. Epnet.com. 1996. EBSCO Publishing. 3

Mar. 2000 <http://ehostvgw4.epnet.com/ehost1.asp?key=204.179.122.141_8000_- 1984961825&retern=y&site=ehost>.

" The Kitchen Counter." The Body Beautiful. 1 Jan. 2000. The Hearst Corporation. 9 Mar. 2000 <http://www. Homearts.com/cgi-bin/food6.pl >.

Anonymous, Japan

Dialog at the Norton Simon Museum

It was a warm day in Pasadena. I was strolling into the Norton Simon Museum when I ran into Mr. John Taylor Gatto. John Taylor Gatto was named New York City Teacher of the Year in 1990 and proposed seven lessons to combat the "hidden curriculum" of schools in The United States.

"Hello, Mr. Gatto," I called out.

He turned his face to me. "Oh, hi, Aya. How're you doing?"

" I'm fine. How are you? Have you been here often?"

Mr. Gatto gave a smile slightly and said, "Yes. I always come here when I want to do something for a change of scenery. Looking at paintings is relaxing for me. How about you?"

I answered hesitatingly, "Ah..., I like to watching painting, but the reason I'm here now is for research for my English assignment. I have to write a dialog of three people in a certain situation chosen by myself, and I choose here for my paper." I was just a student of California State University San Bernardino at this time.

Mr. Gatto said, "Then, would you like to walk around with me? I might give you some good ideas for your paper, if you want."

"How lucky I am! Of course, I'm delighted to walk with you."

We started to hang around together. When we entered the gallery which was displaying nineteen century paintings, I saw a familiar face looking at Goya's "Saint Jerome in Penitence." I tapped Mr. Gatto's shoulder and wondered out loud, "Can you see the person looking at Goya's painting? Is that Mr. Malcom X? Hello, Sir!" Malcom X was one of the most powerful leaders of black Americans, and all of us had known each other previously.

Mr. Malcom said, "Oh... Hi," with puzzlement.

"What's wrong with you?" Mr. Gatto asked him.

"I'm just losing sight of my wife and children," Mr. Malcom muttered.

"Oh..., sorry, we haven't seen them. Let's walk around together searching for your family. Are you here often, too?" I asked him.

"Not really. My wife loves coming here, actually." It seemed that he was so uncomfortable in the atmosphere of the museum.

At the next moment, Mr. Gatto yelled suddenly, "Oh, I love this painting, Goya's "Saint Jerome in Penitence!"

I asked him, "Do you like Goya? I like his works, too. This painting reflects typical Romanticism delight for nature. In the end of eighteen century, people invented....."

Mr. Gatto put words in, "Stop it. I want to watch paintings my own way. I don't need such kind of instruction, especially for art."

Mr. X said uncertainly, "But we need some information to understand art. Look at that. This museum produces a guided tour and explains paintings step by step for guests. The people need examples of the ways to understand art."

"It's not necessary. Most important thing is people develop their own way to think and feel. The ways which are provided by other people are not functional. People need triggers to begin thinking. That's all they need," Mr. Gatto replied forcefully.

Mr. Malcom stopped talking for a moment, and nodded, "Yes, that's true. People should be enlightened by some trigger and develop their own way," and he also said, "But...art is just a kind of thing to kill time for me. I don't have enough enthusiasm to understand art deeply." It seemed as if he didn't want to think about this topic any more, and Mr. Gatto also didn't say anything.

But I continued, "Then, how can we develop our own way with out explanatory information?"

Mr. Gatto replied, "We have information beside of each painting, don't we?"

Then we stepped to the next painting, "The Triumph of Virtue and Mobility Over Ignorance" (Tiepolo).

In front of the painting, I frowned, "I don't like this type of Rococo painting. They're so vulgar. Don't you think so?"

But Mr. Gatto interrupted me, "Hey, Aya. We need logical reason when we deny something in the past. Especially paintings reflect history. If you deny paintings in the past just from your feeling, it means you deny history without a certain reason."

"But she still doesn't like this painting and that's undoubted truth for her, you know? That's exactly what she feels," Mr. Malcom said.

Mr. Gatto was thinking for a while, "... O.K. But we can learn many things from men of other days. You'll miss benefits from them if you deny their behavior."

Mr. Malcom replied imme